German bathing waters rated excellent again

More than 96 percent of bathing waters in Germany were once again rated as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’

Children jump in a lake.Click to enlarge
The quality of bathing water in Germany remains at a high level
Source: Panya Studio / Fotolia.com

The bathing season has already begun in many German states and nothing stands in the way of enjoying swimming in the great outdoors this summer. Germany’s bathing water quality remains at a high level. This was confirmed by the EU commission’s report on the quality of European bathing water, which was presented in Brussels on 28 May 2024. Overall, 98 percent of official German bathing waters on lakes, rivers and coasts met the minimum requirements of the EU Bathing Water Directive. In addition, over 96 percent of bathing waters were again awarded with the top marks of ‘excellent’ and ‘good’.
No. 24/2024

Only seven of the total 2,291 bathing waters in Germany were classified as ‘poor’ in the 2023 season. In 155 cases, bathers were banned from bathing or advised against bathing as a precautionary measure to protect their health. In the most frequent cases, this was due to the occurrence of Cyanobacteria (‘blue-green algae’, 94 times) or for water hygiene reasons (37 times). The cause of inadequate hygienic water quality was mostly due to heavy rainfall events that had carried dirty water into the bodies of water. In a further 24 cases, established predictive and early warning systems warned of possible pollution in bathing waters.

In the 2023 bathing season, 2,291 German bathing water sites were investigated and a total of 13,295 water samples were analysed. Of these bathing water sites, 362 were located on the coasts of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, 1,892 on lakes and reservoirs and 37 in inland waters.

The current measurement data for each bathing water site can be viewed online on the websites of the federal states. An overview is available on the UBA website at water quality in bathing waters. 

 

Umweltbundesamt Headquarters

Wörlitzer Platz 1
06844 Dessau-Roßlau
Germany

A graph shows good and sufficient bathing water quality levels for coastal and inland waters (1992 to 2023). Bathing water quality increased significantly, especially in the 1990s. The target value of 100 % bathing waters with at least sufficient quality was almost reached in 2015 and has been constantly at a high level since then.
Percentage of German bathing waters that comply with the provisions of the Bathing Water Directive..
Source: European Commission Figure as PDF
Figure in Excel with data
Share:
Article:
Printer-friendly version
Tags:
 bathing warter  water  rivers  EU water directive